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Industry Partners
Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan
Prairie Swine Centre is grateful for the assistance of the George Morris Centre in developing the economics portion of Pork Insight.
Financial support for the Enterprise Model Project and Pork Insight has been provided by:
What Airbourne Contaminants are Pig Barn Workers Exposed To?
Posted in: Environment by admin on January 1, 2002 | No Comments
Pig barn workers are exposed to dust, gases, and endotoxins (Wenger, 1989). Pig barn dust originates from many sources including pig dandruff, dried fecal material and from feed. The gases workers are exposed to include NH3, H2S and CO2 gas. Endotoxins are constituenst of the cell walls of gram negative bacteria. To date, there has ben no published research on concurrent, simultaneous personal exposures tp speciality pig barn workers to important contaminents in pig barn enviornments. The purpose of the research study was to identify and quantify the exposures to airbourne contaiminants of specialized career pig barn workers udring low ventilation rates in winter and high ventilation rates in summer.
Riparian Zone Impact on Phosphorus Movement to a Coastal Plain Black Water Stream
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SWINE WASTEWATER TREATMENT IN ANAEROBIC DIGESTERS WITH FLOATING MEDIUM
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New aspects of human trichinellosis: the impact of new Trichinella species
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Hydrogen sulphide emission from two large pig-finishing buildings with long-term high-frequency measurements
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Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) is a common toxic air pollutant and is emitted from decomposing manure
at animal facilities. However, there have been only a few studies of H2S emissions from animal
buildings, especially those involving long-term, high-frequency measurements. In the current study,
H2S emissions from two, 1000-head pig-finishing buildings in Illinois, USA, were monitored with a
high-frequency measurement system for 6 months in 1997 during two, partial, pig-growth cycles. Air
sample streams were continuously taken from the pit headspace, and the pit and wall fan exhaust air.
Hydrogen sulphide concentration was measured at each location with H2S converters and sulphur
dioxide (SO2) analysers during 16 or 24 sampling cycles per day, resulting in 4544 sampling cycles and
219 days of reliable data. Building ventilation rate was the summation of pit fan and wall fan airflow
rates. Airflow rates of the underfloor manure pit fans were measured directly with full-size impeller
anemometers or calculated from airflow voltage relationships of the fans. Airflow rates of the wall
fans were calculated from fan operation and differential static pressure data and fan performance
curves. Mean H2S emission was 0.59 kg/day per building, 0.74 g/day per m2 of pit surface area, or
6.3 g/day per animal unit (AU 500 kg animal weight). The determination of H2S emission per AU
was restricted to 193 days when building occupancy was at least 700 pigs per building. Higher
temperatures and building ventilation rates resulted in significantly higher H2S emissions per AU.
Phosphorus Transport in Overland Flow in Response to Position of Manure Application
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Draeger microPac Performance for Hydrogen Sulphide Monitoring in Commercial Swine Operations
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Summary
The swine industry needs reliable and affordable tools to monitor the air quality in the barn to ensure that their workers are fully aware of unsafe conditions. Sixteen Draeger microPac hydrogen sulfide (H2S) monitors were followed over a year to determine the performance of the monitors. The monitors performed consistently under barn conditions with only a small drift in the accuracy.
Introduction
Until recently systematic H2S monitoring was not performed in the swine industry. A few incidents involving the detrimental effects of H2S have increased the awareness of the possible hazards related to H2S and more intensive swine operators want to ensure that their workers are provided with a safe working environment. Monitors in swine buildings are subjected to a harsh environment where dust, humidity and gases may be present. Since workers wear monitors, the monitors may have accidental falls on the concrete or in the manure. As a result, the swine production conditions are likely to challenge the H2S monitor. The objective of this project was to evaluate the performance of the Draeger microPac unit for H2S monitoring in pig barns.
Experimental Procedures
Over the course of a year, four Draeger microPac monitors were used in office conditions, and 12 monitors were used in both the PSCI Floral and Elstow barns. The working conditions for each monitor was similar for all monitors, including power washing, pit pulling and exposure to outdoor conditions, except for the monitors used in the office. Eight of the monitors used in the barns were subjected to extreme tests after four and eight months of use; four monitors were dropped on concrete, and four monitors were dropped in the manure pits. A calibration gas was used to regularly check the accuracy drift of each of the monitors six times during the project.
Results and Discussion
The absolute average drift of all the monitors after 328 days was from 0.6 to 2.0 ppm, with an absolute maximum drift of 2.7 ppm. This maximum drift was much less than the maximum drift Draeger specified, which was 12 ppm after one year. There was a significant difference in the drift of the monitors after the first six months (p<0.05), but after six months, there was no significant drift of the monitor accuracy. There were also no significant differences between the monitors (p>0.05).
Implications
Use of the Draeger microPac monitors with regular calibrations has shown to be an effective tool to ensure worker safety in a swine environment to help prevent exposure to H2S. Any effects of repeated abuse on the monitors is unknown, but the monitors performed consistently under normal swine housing conditions and the accuracy drift of the monitor was acceptable to help ensure safe working conditions in the swine operation.
Utilizing swine effluent for sprinkler-irrigated corn production
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